Tell me this...

If everyone is equal, what possible value does anybody have? How can anything have any value, if it is equal to everything else? What value does money have, if everybody has it? Is there any value to knowledge, if not having any is equally valuable? Do you know the answer? If you do, what value is there in your answer, when all answers are equal?

Equality once sounded good. But in practice, applied to everything, it seems to have no value at all.

To me there are two definitions of equality, but one of them may be something else entirely.

Definition 1 - each member of a society contributes to said society. Each has a role to fulfill. Products and monetary objects are not throwaway, and serve a functional/practical purpose. Each member of said society is interested and invests in the health of their community and the society at large.

Definition 2 - basically the modern Western classification - "we are all equal, because." Irrespective of quality or quantity or usefulness. __________________________________________________________________________________________________

The key word in your post - "if".

IF equality (as modern Western society views it) exists, then the answer to your questions above are as follows: none, it can't, nothing, no, and no.

But thankfully, despite society's collective neurosis, equality does not exist. Therefore, knowledge has meaning, money only has what value people assign to it, not everyone is equal (some are more useful than others); but I still don't know 'the answer'......I doubt many do.

1. Before God, we are all equally wise, and equally foolish. -Albert Einstein2. Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it. -Frances Wright3. These men ask for just the same thing: fairness, and fairness only. This is, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have. -Abraham Lincoln4. From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor’s rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own. -Carl Shurz5. Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power. -Barbara Jordan6. Equality is not in regarding different things similarly, equality is in regarding different things differently. -Tom Robbins7. Women’s rights is not only an abstraction, a cause; it is also a personal affair. It is not only about us; it is also about me and you. Just the two of us. -Toni Morrison8. If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present. -Franz Boas9. Equal pay isn’t just a women’s issue; when women get equal pay, their family incomes rise and the whole family benefits. -Mike Honda10. The word ‘equality’ shows up too much in our founding documents for anyone to pretend it’s not the American way. -Martha Plimpton11. Marriage equality is about more than just marriage. It’s about something greater. It’s about acceptance. -Charlize Theron12. I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality. -Alice Paul13. Half a century ago, the amazing courage of Rosa Parks, the visionary leadership of Martin Luther King, and the inspirational actions of the civil rights movement led politicians to write equality into the law and make real the promise of America for all her citizens. -David Cameron14. In science, all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality. -Mary McCarthy15. Equality implies individuality. -Trey Anastasio16. Equality means nothing unless incorporated into the institutions. -Slobodan Milosevic17. Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society. -Sonia Sotomayor18. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t carry just a piece of cloth to symbolize his belief in racial equality; he carried the American flag. – Adrian Cronauer19. Candor is a compliment; it implies equality. It’s how true friends talk. -Peggy Noonan

The equality of value in humans is a base value. Ideally, it does not negate the hierarchy of deeds, or the selectivity of action. It does not disregard class (in the economic sense) or caste (in the spiritual sense). It does not relegate people to be a void, but is supposed to stand to safeguard against abuses of law and power unbecoming of those who should lead. How far have we strayed from this lofty belief?

At least, this is the interpretation that has been conveyed to me through scholars and texts.